RC116 JanFeb 2025 - Magazine - Page 20
TOP100 PROJECTS
Wataynikaneyap (Watay) Power, a First Nations-led company made up of 24 Indigenous communities, built the Watay Power Transmission Project, which is the largest Indigenous-led
and lengthiest grid connection project in Ontario’s history. The 1,800-kilometre Wataynikaneyap Power Transmission Project connected 26,000 people in 17 remote communities.
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cial government acknowledged, “Connecting the remote communities
is a priority.” Wataynikaneyap Power (established in 2012) received
its transmission license from the Ontario Energy Board three years
later. In 2016, Wataynikaneyap Power was selected to carry out this
massive infrastructure project, which by 2019 had been expanded to a
partnership between 24 First Nations; the average distance separating
these communities is 60 kilometres.
The road to First Nations ownership
Watay Power selected Fortis Inc. over seven other suppliers because
the Canadian-owned utility company, which started out more than
a century ago as The St. John’s Electric Light Company in Newfoudland’s capital, was the only utility that shared in the long-term vision
that the First Nations communities would maintain majority ownership throughout, and eventually own 100 per cent of Watay Power.
“We will be forever grateful that Fortis enabled and supported our
people’s vision of ownership,” says Kenequanash.
The 昀椀rst step, in 2015, on the road to this Indigenous-majority ownership model, was creating a licensed transmission company—First
Nation Limited Partnership (FNLP)—with each of the 24 Northwestern Ontario First Nations partners owned equal shares. Currently,
FNLP owns 51 per cent and Fortis owns 49 per cent.
“This was an incredible collaborative model that included 昀椀nancial
backing from both the provincial and federal government, along with
loans secured by all 昀椀ve of Canada’s biggest banks,” says Gary Smith,
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WATAYNIKANEYAP POWER
and essential resources like food security and technology availability
were a昀昀ected hindering further economic development of these communities due to this lack of power to spur growth.
“Our communities were at a crossroads,” explains Margaret Kenequanash, CEO, Wataynikaneyap Power. “These old generators were
at capacity and so these communities were at a standstill and could
not make further infrastructure improvements without a reliable
power source through connection to the provincial grid.”
Kenequanash has spent her life in public service. In 1996, she was
elected the 昀椀rst female chief in her community, North Caribou Lake
First Nation, and became the CEO of Wataynikaneyap Power in
August 2017. She has made it her life mission to better the lives and
provide more opportunities for First Nations peoples.
Conversations surrounding what a sustainable solution might look
like—and how to connect these geographically spread-out communities began as far back as the 1990s, when a group of First Nations
chiefs started to dream of a transmission line to connect their communities to a clean and reliable source of power. But it was not until
2008 when these private conversations and dreams transformed into
an actual strategic plan. That is when the Central Corridor Energy
Group was given a mandate to plan and develop an electrical transmission line owned by the First Nations to connect 10 communities to
the provincial electricity grid. Environmental assessment work took
close to 昀椀ve years to complete. In the interim, ongoing engagement
continued with all of the communities. As early as 2013, the provin-
